Late last night
As I was walking my dog
We saw three deer
Munching away

We stopped to watch
And they watched us
And must have decided
That we’re okay

I will admit
I’m still not used
To deer so near
Who have no fear
And make it clear
They’re going to stay

Who munch and watch
People go by
And wait for
Another day

Once in a lifetime
If you’re lucky
You get a second chance
At love
How it happens
Why it happens
No one knows
But the powers up
Above
Life’s twists and turns
Run parallel in the universe
Fate and destiny hold hands
To bring loved ones together
Dearly departed team up
In Heaven
Guiding what appears
Happenstance
Improbable
Impossible
And yet volatile passions
Transcend eternity
Until the ultimate moment
Of consummation
A deep breath
Of longing
Brought together
Like lightning
Illuminating the sky
In a flash of brilliance
That will last forever
Towering over
Time and space
No longer a momentary
Ember
But
Transformed into a glowing
Fireball that consumes
Every fiber of the
Lover’s beings
Granting them love
And happiness
And an ending that will last
Forever

11/11/18

Follow the dream
no matter where it leads
as dreams have their
own direction
and their
own destiny

6/6/19

www.brucelevine.com
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07485W4Q1

I sit on the porch
Watching the moon and the stars
Holding hands with God

Love is special – unique
Something that can’t be
Bought in a store
Or on-line
Love can’t be found
Just because you’re
Looking for it
Love finds you
Sometimes through
Incomprehensible means
Love is destiny
Founded by two souls
Meeting in Heaven
And molded into one
As the angels
Return it to the
Original owners
But it’s
A new life
Because love
Has joined the beings
Forever as one

The day languished before them,
as if suspended in time,
choosing a course
and yet not choosing,
but rather letting the course choose them
without care
because freedom
and abandonment to choose
presented itself
in its own inexplicable way
and their free will
became incapable
of deciding.

I write two kinds of stories –
Happy endings or killing people –
I guess I’m happy killing people

2/27/19
www.brucelevine.com

My hatred increases
In geometric progression
To my daily existence

11/29/18

Here’s to a breakfast appetizer
The start of another day
Waking to the loved one
Brought from miles away

The longing we thought would last forever
Is gone with a single kiss
That brings the joys of a lifetime
Filled with days of bliss

The golden days of every day
The passion we’ll always feel
A love that will last forever
And ever because it’s real

Simple joys like holding hands
Or walking in the snow
Mem’ries in the making
To last as long as we’ll know

Happy times through summer
Winter, spring and fall
Gathering momentum through the years
The greatest love of all

10/7/18

Forty miles to go
Sunny day to share
Start and stop
Signs often flop
Company profound

Finding food to eat
Lots of stuff to see
Roads to try
Not knowing why
Getting lost and found

Silly things to find
Happy thoughts compare
Hills to climb
Goals are refined
Calories rebound

Looking over things
Books to skim galore
Bric-a-brac
Don’t miss a rack
Clothes to try renowned

Perfect finds in store
Seeking a new home
‘Til next week
When hide and seek
Memories compound

5/25/19

www.brucelevine.com
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07485W4Q1

Deloris Duck
Doesn’t quack
Her quacker is on the fritz
She’s made of stone
It should be known
A green duck doesn’t mix

I walk the dog
I read
I watch the wind
Blow the branches
Of the trees
Under a gray sky
That threatens rain
The torrential rain
Here last night
Gone today
But for the threat
Of more
The day begins
Time passes
I watch
I wait
For rain
To cleanse the air
To shift the shadows
Of clouds
Darkened with water
Waiting
To empty their burden
Darkness pervades
Plans change
Empty hours
Of waiting
Umbrellas furled
Leaves drip
From the canopy
Of trees
Remnants of rain
Past
Droplets of water
No longer suspended
Like time
Bent
To conform
To the new
Reality
Holding the moment
With mist
That turns
To rain

Blue cobalt in a sea of gray
Brings stability in times of torment
And holds the everlasting surrender

2/21/19

www.brucelevine.com

I awoke several times last night
And looked for you on the
Pillow next to me
In my mind’s eye I saw you lying there
Your hair billowing around
Your beautiful face
Your breathing slow and gentle
The breathing of the content
Knowing of our love for each other
Feeling your presence
As I fell back asleep

Never argue with a foodist
One never wins

The pantry that’s now empty
The larder not refilled
Refrigeration required
After opening yet unfulfilled

Shopping the supermarket
A grand prix of rolling carts
The mounds of provisions
That overflows human hearts

Never-ending virtues
Of foodist inspiration
The lovely contemplation
Of meals that ever last

6/6/19

www.brucelevine.com
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07485W4Q1

Snowflakes falling on frozen tree limbs
Festooned now with red and gold
Candy canes like peppermint soldiers
Help to guard the young and old
Silver bells and colored bright lights
Helping merry times unfold
Santa’s elves bring yuletide magic
Telling stories twice retold

Cinnamon sticks to stir hot chocolate
Tonics to fill our hearts with cheer
Holiday magic to brighten the morning
Santa’s sleigh with all nine reindeer
Cakes and cookies filling baskets
Ice cream snowmen travel near
Happy mem’ries of childhood fancies
Lighten hearts throughout the year

The temperature dropped
But the warmth of the sun fills the room
Like love fills the heart

Alone again
Dreams keep
Coming to an end
Unfulfilled promises
Thrown away
With a kiss
Sorrow reignited
Passion extinguished
Forever forgotten
In the blink of an eye
A lifetime of hopes
And dreams
Piled in a funeral pyre
Longing overtaking
A dismembered corpse
As the tangible
Artifacts remain
A constant reminder
Of a second broken heart
Unsung and unheralded
Commitments forsaken
The grand scheme
That appeared perfection
Gone and only the dust
Of another cremation
Of the soul
Remaining forever

1/25/19

Reading the blogs
Is a perpetual challenge
Wondering why something is there
Wondering if the author is scared

Are they writing to write?
Or writing for reason?
Or are they simply compelled
Just to put something up?

Fashioning fancy after
Reader’s approbation
Extending a handshake
To comments not meant

Reading the blogs
Of writers prolific
Joyous new wonders
A daily dose of cheer

Writers keep writing
And upload your treasures
The universe awaits you
To savour your gifts

6/2/19

Frozen in time
The sweet embers of a charcoal fire
Linger in the mist of the day
Hovering in the air
Holding fast
While clouds float over the horizon
Making their way in a journey of the unknown
And caterpillars parade across wet grass
Marching to a tune unheard and unsung
And yet pervasive
In the momentum of the illusionary
The myths and legends wrapped in pink ribbons
And fairy tales come to life
In the land of their own making

5/14/19

Lovers parting
Their hearts unfulfilled
Fending off the heartbreak
That should never have been
A heart stilled

Looking through the window
Of twenty years or more
Wondering how it happened
The days gone by
And washed ashore

To live on a deserted island
As emptiness abounds
No matter where the island
With or without people
Loneliness surrounds

All too many islands
In fantasy or real
To the lovers parted
Their hearts remaining still
Too empty now to feel

Folded forever
In a blanket of love
A fishbowl of virtue
Crystalline clear
Peacock feathers
Spread in a bouquet
A colorful rainbow
To tie ‘round your finger
A constant reminder
Of constancy declared
Held in a blanket
Soft as cashmere
Warmth everlasting
A comet revealed
A tail made of stardust
A magical space
Forever a blanket
To wrap you with love

6/7//19

www.brucelevine.com
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07485W4Q1

Half way to nowhere
Becoming who you are
Tides of time forever

Striations
Gradations
Filling the atmosphere
In stillness

Pink
Mixed with
White and gray
To almost holiness

Fallacy of fate
Languish
The unknowing
With helplessness

Testing the tide
Pressing forward
Through fear
Of loneliness

Watching the idle
Wither without them knowing
Through vacant
Wastefulness

As the nouveau riche
Luxuriate
In ostentatious
Lavishness

And society’s
Double meaning
The self-inflicted oxymoron
And the selfishness

Promulgates
The stagnation
The paucity
Which ends in emptiness

The river of time
Flows through the essence
Of human existence
Forging canyons in the soul

Following a path
Of its own creation
Leaving silt in its wake
Stones along the shore

Rapids interrupt
Its meandering migration
As the current overtakes
Rocks scattered in the bed

Casting spray on daydreams
Leaving empty holes
Where the future
Would have been

The river holds the mem’ries
Of sailors long since gone
Waiting for new entries
Dragged against their will

Shadows from the trees
Quiver in the wind
Darkening the river’s path
Where sunshine should have been

Shallow pools created
As the river branches off
An oasis holding time
That the current ignored

Skipping stones on the surface
Thrown by people on the shore
Setting off vibrations
Concentric circles spreading out

Fastening forever
As the ripples disappear
Time alone remembers
The river that flows along

Leaving empty caverns
Cut in solid stone
That once had happy endings
Before the ebb and flow

Heaven remembers
The fortitude
Wrought in time
That outlasts infinity
And gives strength
Through the simplest emotions
Guiding the pathways
Through forests primeval
Or oceans outlasting
The desert refined
By sand dunes of mem’ries
To hold and remember
Uncertain of context
But travel in light-years
And journeys forgotten
Remembered
Defined
By new journeys taken
And new hope abounding
The future forgiving
New moments sublime

2/21/19

www.brucelevine.com

I trace the hours
Then the minutes
Waiting seems forever
Golden seconds
Moving softly
Like your breath
From far away
Soon my Darling
Home together
Never more away
Loving heartbeats
Clocks chiming
Measuring the miles
That never should have been
From the moment
Joined together
Eternity now alive
Sharing love and caring
Now that fate has set the day
Forever remember
Our love has found
A joyous entry
In the book of forever more
Happy ending
‘Round the corner
Love and hope in store
Love forever
Safe and warm now
Home, let’s close the door
On turmoil and strife
Tomorrow in the past
Husband and Wife
One true love
To fill our lives
‘Til eternity and a day
Holding fast
The hours will pass
Fate has set the day

New tomorrows
Sprinkled with uncertainty
Hopeful yet unknowing
Born of some spectral happenstance
That unites souls
Without knowing when or how
Looking in the mirror of time
And seeing infinity
Holding hands at the crossroads
Without questioning which way to go
Knowing the path to follow
Uncertainty gone in a tornado
Swirling in the core
Opening new vistas
And new tomorrows

When love
Transcends time, distance and space
And takes hold of two people
Brought together by destiny and fate
The universe is renewed

Golden threads
Stitch the planets into a ring
And Saturn gives up its rings
As baguettes to surround the diamond
That once was the sun

And then
The moons and the stars
Shine down on the love
Like a rainbow of light
Catching moonbeams in its path
In a spiral of sparkles
Like fireworks on the Fourth of July

When love
Is so strong that it can
Overcome all obstacles
And join two people
Like an umbilical chord
Gives life to a baby
And each
Nurtures the other
With their hearts and their souls
As love unites them
For eternity

When love
Is so strong that the past disappears
And only the future remains
To be seen among the stars and the planets
In a universe of their own

(For My WIFE)

Home can be
Anywhere
Any place
Any town or
City
Any size or
Shape
A palace
Or a two room
Flat
Home isn’t
Four walls
A kitchen
And a bath
Home only
Exists
When it is
Filled with
Love
Filled with
Life
And
Laughter
A haven where
Warmth and safety
Prevails
Where storms and
Pestilence
Can’t reach
Home is where
Simple things
Are important
And big things
Are taken in stride
Home is when
Two
Defies mathematics
Where two hearts
And two souls
Become
One
Home is where
Love can
Flourish
And sadness is
Banished
Home is an
Intangible
That defies
Definition
Except by those
Who
Feel alive
Because they are
Home
Where anything
And everything
Can happen
Dreams can come
True
And life is
Joyous
Simply because
There is
A place called
Home

10/3/18

The Greatest Love Of All

Thursday, February 14, 2019 | Filed under Bruce Levine

Contributor: Bruce Levine

- -
Here’s to a breakfast appetizer
The start of another day
Waking to the loved one
Brought from miles away

The longing we thought would last forever
Is gone with a single kiss
That brings the joys of a lifetime
Filled with days of bliss

The golden days of every day
The passion we’ll always feel
A love that will last forever
And ever because it’s real

Simple joys like holding hands
Or walking in the snow
Mem’ries in the making
To last as long as we’ll know

Happy times through summer
Winter, spring and fall
Gathering momentum through the years
The greatest love of all

http://www.leaves-of-ink.com/2019/02/the-greatest-love-of-all.html

www.brucelevine.com

A new day
A new life
Parting with the old
But never parting
Holding on to golden moments
Like a bee sleeping
In the palm of your hand
Looking toward newly made memories
In a Tiffany setting
Made of silver and platinum
Crafted by the deft
Hand of fate
Intertwining two lives
Like Rococo filigree
And sent off
To find their destiny
Amid the chaos
Of emotions
That can only be resolved
As one

Reality forsaken
For a chance at the golden ring
And though it’s only made of brass
A chance to grab it still could bring

Dreams of glory yet remain
Waiting on the shelf
For father time to come along
To turn them into wealth

And so our good friend harkens
And listens for the call
Remembering dreams of glory
Before a mighty fall

And time alone can put aside
The fears of remaining true
Refusing to abjure the dreams
Or asking where or who

Can take a chance again each day
Looking to the goal
For brass or gold it’s still a ring
A circle with a hole

I write two kinds of stories –
Happy endings or killing people –
I guess I’m happy killing people

2/27/19
www.brucelevine.com

Traveling through life
Is an open-ended journey
Of picture post-cards
Hung on a wall

Memories hold souvenirs
Of long forgotten triumphs
And photos remind us
On a four by six card

Passions forever
Encased in a moment
Hold the future together
As the road travels on

And bumps on the highway
Are simply distractions
Resolved at the next
Scenic over-look ahead

Take hold of tomorrow
And only look forward
A lifetime is out there
New post-cards to send

5/9/19

Late afternoon
A gentle breeze
The trees a full rich green
On the cusp of summer

The sky’s a perfect sky-blue
With wisps of clouds
Barely visible
Transparent
Like cigarette smoke
In a film noir
Slowly drifting across the tapestry

The sun
Just before it sets
Bright, with that extra glow
Of eventide
Showering the tops of the trees
In a halo of shimmering light

A perfect time to be lazy
Reclining in a comfortable chair
Daisy, my dog, watching her world
Then drifting off happily
With drooping eyes to nap

A busy day
Slowly ending
With golden moments
Before ev’ning shadows
Envelop the day
And gentle breezes
Drift into night

They were waiting for the train

Not a word had been spoken

And yet they knew there was significance to their waiting

Circumstances had placed them here as much as led them on

It was their future, their hopes, their dreams, their everything

The train would take them home

5/3/19

www.brucelevine.com
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07485W4Q1

New tomorrows
Sprinkled with uncertainty
Hopeful yet unknowing
Born of some spectral happenstance
That unites souls
Without knowing when or how
Looking in the mirror of time
And seeing infinity
Holding hands at the crossroads
Without questioning which way to go
Knowing the path to follow
Uncertainty gone in a tornado
Swirling in the core
Opening new vistas
And new tomorrows

The momentum of today
Overcomes the lassitude of yesterday
Bringing forth a new entry
In the rhythm of life
Fixed on the timeless energy
Of tomorrow’s renewal
The glories of future expressions
Sustained by the powers of the mind
Inaugurated by passion
Fulfilled by love

5/4/19

Where do rainbows go
After they fade away?
Is there a land of color
And parades of chocolate cake?

Do leprechauns go bowling
Or skate in pools of rain?
Do milkshakes last forever
In a never empty glass?

Why does raspberry sherbet
Melt upon the tongue?
And is there always laughter
Where tiger cubs go to play?

Are stories to remember
When gray hair covers heads?
Or does childhood last forever
In the hearts of those who’ve understood?

5/28/19

www.brucelevine.com
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07485W4Q1

The stealthy stalking of bees
Happens each year in the spring
When flowers grow under the trees
And song birds are starting to sing

The pollen that’s turned into honey
Bears fruit for the people we know
But bees think it’s just pretty funny
To put on a song and dance show

When Daisy the dog sees a field
Of flowers that bloom in the spring
She stealthily stalks bees for breakfast
And gobbles them down without a sting

I wonder how Daisy does do it
She swallows them whole one and all
The bees keep working unnoticed
While Daisy devours them all

2/22/19

www.brucelevine.com

The yellow light of dawn
Burning through the trees
Awakening the day

Here’s to a breakfast appetizer
The start of another day
Waking to the loved one
Brought from miles away

The longing we thought would last forever
Is gone with a single kiss
That brings the joys of a lifetime
Filled with days of bliss

The golden days of every day
The passion we’ll always feel
A love that will last forever
And ever because it’s real

Simple joys like holding hands
Or walking in the snow
Mem’ries in the making
To last as long as we’ll know

Happy times through summer
Winter, spring and fall
Gathering momentum through the years
The greatest love of all

10/7/18

www.brucelevine.com

The sun is just burning off
The morning mist as it
Pierces the leaves of the trees
Casting a wakening glow
On the landscape
Bringing warmth to the day
And to the hearts of lovers
After the cool and restful night

The day has begun
The smells of coffee
And breakfast permeates
The air as life is
Renewed

Joyous surroundings
Fill the souls as the sun
Fills the sky
Lighting the way
To work and to play
And love engulfs
The lovers who
Bask in the glow
Of the sun
And their love

10/9/18

An ordinary cold is a hateful thing
With sneezes and wheezes and coughing that bring
Tremulous moments while holding one’s breath
Trying to stave off once more a feeling of death.

The mornings of glory no longer abound
The nights filled with snoring, a ghastly old sound.
With days hard to get through and work gone askew
While others are playing or getting their due.

No more feeling happy, no more feeling sad
There’s only the feeling of just feeling bad
And hope of recov’ry that once seemed so near
Is lost like a mem’ry and moments of fear.

As days filled with sneezing and wheezing move on
And glimmers of hope that this cold will be gone
For sooner or later there must be a day
When the ordinary cold has outlived its stay.

The crooked tree stands alone
Reaching for the sun
Half remembered, half forgotten
Lonely in its isolation
With
Limbs extending in a-symmetry
Branches growing
Where no branches should grow
Twisted upward toward the light
Yet
Darkness shrouding the branches within
Struggling for a place
No one knowing, no one caring
The crooked tree remains

Counting the days
‘Til our new life begins
Waiting and watching
The calendar
Ticking off numbers
Hours and minutes
Until you arrive
Holding my breath
Until your kiss
Breaks the spell
Longing and wanting
Each other from afar
Love crossing oceans
Our bodies tingling
For each other’s touch
The moment of passion
Fulfilled by our hearts
Beating as one
And making new mem’ries
To last through the years
Perfection together
Outlasting all time
A marriage made in Heaven
Blessed by eternity
To love and to hold
In friendship, as lovers
Companions forever
Strengthened each day
With each kiss
With each hug
Our love remains constant
Two hearts now as one

The roads not taken
And the roads we missed
The turns mistaken
That led us to persist

The happiness remembered
With each passing day
The memories dismembered
Trying to find the way

And longing for the past
Reveals the dusty road
That once had been and we thought would ever last
But time, it seems, became too heavy a load

And the empty days that still go on
The loneliness that weighs so heavily
Can’t bring back the days now gone
Nor answer my tearful plea

The years ahead look empty now
With no roads to travel and nothing to see
The finite seconds that disallow
And only love lasts ‘til eternity

First awakenings
Stirring the soul
Innocence turned tangible
In a mixture of hope
Opening windows
And letting the cool breeze
Drift across the horizon
Up toward clouds
That billow like cotton candy
Pink and white spun sugar
Held together by an adhesive
That can’t be bought
Can’t be found on any shelf
In any store
That can only find itself
And merge like hydrogen and oxygen
Becoming a new entity
Inseparable
To quench the soul

The leaves are starting to turn
Fall has finally come
Glory days are here

Yellow, orange and red
Mother Nature’s palette
Perfect days for walking
Holding hand as lovers

Shadows of the summer
Refreshed by sweet October
Cooler days and nights
Offering the chance
To forget unhappy mem’ries
Like crushed leaves on the ground
The bright rejuvenation
And colors on the trees